David Colin Freeman

David Colin Freeman, 2014

David Colin Freeman (born 21 March 1977 in Los Angeles, California) is a composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and music educator, with a diverse musical background, of whom’s history in underground recordings of various styles goes as far back as 1990. His work has been featured in independent film and performed live by ensembles throughout the Southwest United States. His most recent work focuses on meditative and spiritual minimalism, and song-without-words contemporary works featuring flute and piano. His full professional resume is available at this link.

Biography

Early life

David Colin Freeman grew up in a quiet suburb north of Los Angeles, Calif. Although neither of Freeman's parents were musicians by profession, they understood the value of music lessons and made sure that his life was filled with music every day from an early age, and was exposed to many different instruments and styles of music, and studied many instruments, most notably piano and flute. He remembers his first discovery of classical music as he browsed through his parents vinyl collection, and recalls being particularly struck by their many relaxing symphonic recordings. Early on, Freeman had dreams filled with melody and inspiration.

Musical Background

Freeman, flute; and Guthrie-Podley, harp; as Heaven’s Harp, cir. 2004

At age 12, his first composition to be played publicly was a special project given to him by a history teacher whose assignment was to compose a piece that could have been performed in ancient Greece. With a keen ear for melody and phrasing, Freeman improvised a full-length piano piece entitled "Song of the Sirens" and played the tape for his class at the amazement of his teacher and fellow students. His talent for creation became evident. It was at that moment Freeman fell in love with music creation and decided to pursue a degree in music, where he studied flute and piano performance as his main focus. He later composed and conducted many works for small ensemble and orchestra alike during his time as a student. While performing as a guest artist with a Los Angeles-area university in the year 2000, Freeman met harpist Melanie Guthrie-Podley. The two decided to form the performance duo, Heaven's Harp, with Freeman performing on flute. [and in addition to being involved in a baroque trio with a cellist and violinist, and playing keyboard in a hard rock band with his cousin.

2000-2001, 2004: River Andromeda Freeman combined flute and electronica into an experimental electronica album entitled, River Andromeda, which he then independently released in 2001. One of the tracks was featured in the award-winning documentary, Pedaling a Dream. A subsequent underground release of River Andromeda in 2004 soon followed along with the addition of new previously unreleased tracks including Still Summer Day. Freeman ultimately held the album back to be saved for future release, meanwhile he concentrated on developing his performance career. After many years spent on the shelf, rumor has it that Freeman has revisited the work and it is set to be released in early 2015.

2009: Symphonic Allusions After performing for many years on stage as a principal-chair flutist, in 2009 Freeman decided to move with his partner to Las Vegas, Nevada, to focus primarily on his solo work. While tucked away in a room he assembled and orchestrated a few sketches and even a flute and harp piece he had previously performed live in concert releasing the work as a fully realized symphonic-themed album, Symphonic Allusions. Soon after, he published the scores in a book for piano solo.

2011-2014: Winterspell Following a tragic personal loss, Freeman began work on a dark and haunting holiday-themed instrumental portrait of darkened Christmas carols. Freeman released the album under an alias, Colin Cumberland. where it airs on online radio. Additionally, Winterspell has been released on a multimedia platform DVD, which includes additional video and artwork.

2014-2016:Upcoming Releases Having visited the island of Kauai in Hawaii, Freeman recalls a time shopping for souvenirs being completely surrounded by wind chimes as influencing of his compositional style during this period. “I closed my eyes and floated away with all the sounds. I was transported.”

Now with a bit more experience producing music, Freeman revisits many of his former recordings and prepare for release.

INSTRUMENTS

Freeman utilizes a variety of software and acoustic instruments, some unconventional. He examines his unique sound and playing style in this 2016 interview:

Freeman, “harp-percussion”; January 2016

I wanted to detach from the virtual instruments and evolve my sound. Maybe it is a bit unconventional, but not more than then any prepared piano. I tilted my harp on its side, took a pair of mallets and began playing it like a hammered zither. I used the same approach on a grand piano during college. They locked the piano lids down after my performance.

My tenor flute is pink, although it was not my first choice in color, I immediately fell in love with its versatile tone. When I picked up the instrument for the first time, the tenor took a life of its own. I immediately hit the record button and ‘Mono’ was born.

Freeman, tenor flute; November 2015

Discography

Recordings

David Colin Freeman is also known as (a.k.a) Colin Cumberland; Teale; Uvaura; and Xeruva.